New Green ThoughtsSaving the environment one word at a time

Baby diapers take about one hundred years before they get biodegraded. In short, they stay in landfills long enough to outlive the person who once used them almost all of the time. To remove the burden on landfills and to provide with cleaner energy, the Canadian firm AMEC have been trying to extract the paper pulp from the diapers to create a cleaner form of diesel.

The firm plans to take in at least 180 million diapers from the Canadian province of Quebec. AMEC claims that it can produce a staggering 11 million liters of diesel from that load so if theycan really pull this off, it might be a big break not only for the environment but also for the Canadian consumers.

Unless you’re thinking about that ugly smudge on your car seat, it’s pretty hard to connect the concepts of cars and chocolates, right? Well, the British scientists have something up their sleeves. Instead of being happy by just eating it, they’re now trying to run cars with it – and that’s Formula 3 car no less!

While we’re not exactly talking about the really yummy stuff here – the scientists are using waste material from chocolate vats. The fats from the chocolate were being transformed to a form of diesel. It’s still in it’s experimental phase so don’t expect to have choco diesel at your gas station anytime soon.

The United States is once again leading the world in terms of new wind energy installations. Though wind energy only accounts for 2% of the entire energy provided for the country, wind energy has been the leading type of energy generating facility in the US in the past four years.

Texas leads all states with approximately 7,100 megawatts of power from wind energy. There are thirteen other states who have at least 500 megawatts generated from wind energy. Likewise, the states of Iowa and Minnesota are already depending on wind energy for at least 10% of their energy requirement.

It seems like the economic forces are forcing Americans to go green.

The Philippines is a small country; but with the exploding population, the toll on the environment due to the immense amount of garbage generated has gone to very alarming levels. Thankfully, store owners and grocers have taken it upon themselves to chip in the cause of being more environmentally aware.

Most big supermarkets now use biodegradable plastic bags made from a polymer derived from the corn plant. These shopping bags look and feel similar to the regular plastic bags and are also as sturdy as the ones used before. These bags are expected to degrade within two yearsof use.

The Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq are considered by many historians and anthropologists as the two bodies of water that were responsible for the mighty Mesopotamian civilizations in the past millennia. These two rivers formed a great area called the Fertile Crescent that allowed for the flourishing of crops despite the arid and inhsopitable terrain around the regions.

Ironically, due to the diversion and rerouting of the rivers to create more irrigation for other farms outside of the Fertile Crescent, it seems like that the future of the once fabled region is now in peril. Experts are now predicting that the Fertile Crescent will be gone within the next 100 years. And with it, disapperars years of tradition and history.

The US government has just started a widely controversial, but still very popular program as an effort to reduce the American dependence on crude oil and increase awareness about matters concerning the environment. The “Cash For Clunkers” project is all about giving back your fuel-inefficient vehicles in exchange for cars that have greater mileage.

Older models of Chevrolet, General Motors and Ford have been getting sent back for the newest model of the Toyota Prius. The Prius has been known for a very long time as one of the premier smart cars in the market. Chevrolet has also started in on the green act by releasing the now much-talked-about Chevy Volt.

Mowing your lawn may not seem like a big deal when it comes to the environment, but you see, gas-powered lawn mowers are among the most inefficient engines in the world. The exhaust is also very damaging to the atmosphere and the rest of the plants in your garden.

To make sure that you’re being environmentally friendly, ensure that you’re following these pointers:

1. Do not mow your lawn too short.

2. Let the trimmings lie where they fall – they can be excellent fertilizer.

3. Use an electric or a lawn mower that works without an engine. This makes the whole exercise more carbon neutral.

If you’re using an automated watering system, you’re probably wasting a good portion of perfectly clean fresh water. If that doesn’t hit you hard yet, you’re probably spending twice as much as you need on your water bill.

All the world’s resources are limited – and that includes the fresh water that we use for our daily purposes.

Here are some tips to save water:

1. water plants during the early morning. Watering at noon would only make the water evaporate immediately.

2. Utilize techniques that retain moisture in the soil like mulching.

3. Position the plants that require the most water in the most shaded parts of your garden.

Imagine scuba diving off the warm waters of San Diego, California. Everything seems to be perfect – excellent visibility, water temperature’s that’s just right and the fish are plentiful.

Now imagine getting attacked by the Humboldt squid (otherwise known as the Jumbo Squid). These may seem soft-bodied critters but they can pack quite a punch. They have a very hard beak similar to a parrots and they can definitely bite off a chunk off meat off any diver.

San Diego divers have been reporting increased sightings and attacks. The squids have also been noted to go into shallower waters than before. With changing weather patterns, its really easy how the ecologic balance shifts to unfamiliar territory.

Russia planted a flag underneath the Arctic Circle as a symbolic claim to the potential riches of the area but Denmark; a small country in the Baltic Sea, won’t go silently into the night.

Denmark may be small, but it has the legal claim to the largest island in the world – Greenland. Though largely uninhabited, Greenland is one of the largest landmasses near the Arctic Circle. Denmark just formed a military force that would defend Danish interests in the Arctic.

With the ice thawing in the region, the area is now being considering as a possible spot for future oil exploration and even as an alternate ship route.